The 2017 film A Journey’s End (dir. Saul Dibb), one of many film adaptations of R.C. Sherriff’s 1928 play, stars Sam Clafin, Asa Butterfield, and Paul Bettany as soldiers on the front line of the Great War in the final year of the war. In the film, a young man, Jimmy Raleigh (Butterfield), joins the front for the first time in spring 1918 as the British are anticipating an offensive attack from the Germans. He requests to be put into a company with his friend from school, Stanhope (Clafin), even though the company’s position is more dangerous than his original appointment. While at the front, Raleigh befriends Lieutenant Osborne (Bettany) and finds out that Stanhope has been changed by the war.

When one thinks of war movies, they may think of an action-packed combat film, often with a heroic figure. A Journey’s End is not that kind of film. A Journey’s End takes place over just a few days and primarily deals with the dreadful waiting for a German offensive. There are only two combat scenes, each of which focuses on fear, the brutality of war, and loss of life. The story conveys the trauma of soldiers. Raleigh, who arrives bright and enthusiastic, is overtaken by fear in conflict and, after experiencing the death of someone close to him, is left feeling empty and angry. Stanhope, who is practically unrecognizable to Raleigh, turns to alcohol to cope with his fear and nightmares. In one scene, between Stanhope and a soldier who desperately wants to be sent out due to injury or else desert, Stanhope shares that they all feel the same anxiety, terror, and suicidal thoughts, but must stick through it anyway and continue fighting. In one scene, Stanhope has nightmare, which is depicted using a seamless transition from him rolling over in bed. At first, he is backlit by something extremely bright, possibly fire from an explosion, that the audience cannot see. In the next shot, the camera faces Stanhope as he stares into the bright light, which has a buzzing sound, then cuts to black. The audience is still not privy to what, exactly, he sees or what it means to him—perhaps it is a memory of something in the past or something he fears could happen in the future, when the Germans attack—but the audience can tell that it is unnerving. Rather than the action of warfare, A Journey’s End focuses on the human element of war through the trauma, fear, emotional defeat of soldiers.

The setting of A Journey’s End appears to accurately reflect the reality of life in the trenches. The trenches are muddy, wet, and smelly—even reinforced with bodies of the dead—and the food is bad. The soldiers spend most of their time just waiting around for conflict to erupt, another defining aspect of trench life. The film also emphasizes the physical destruction of war. A heap of bricks is all that is left of a farm, splintered trees are all that is left of the woods, and, at the end, a zooming out bird’s-eye view reveals the death and destruction of the trench and its surrounding environment.

Dibb utilizes several techniques to illustrate the tension and passing of time at the front. He uses orchestral non-diegetic music to contrubute to the feelings of tension and anxiety while waiting for the German offensive. Additionally, he uses on-screen text to segment each passing day throughout the film, emphasizing the passage of time. On-screen text also provides background information about the war. The film concludes with on-screen text that states facts about the German offensive, including how over a million people would die at war in 1918 alone before the war finally ended. The use of informational text adds even more emotional weight to the film, reminding viewers that this was a real even with real casualties.

I was not sure what to expect from A Journey’s End, but I found it to be a raw, emotional expression of humanity and life in the trenches while anticipating almost certain death. Although the plot was predictable and depressing, the cast’s performances convey the incomprehensible loss of life in the Great War and the struggles felt by soldiers. I am curious about how it compares to the original play and other film adaptations. If anyone is interested in a somber depiction of life in the trenches, A Journey’s End tells a well-executed, moving story.